Tozer on Self-Sufficiency

Enjoy today's Tozer. To me, this also really speaks to the error of psychology, particularly Rogerian.

The Holy Spirit: Wake Up the Lion In You!

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. --2 Corinthians 3:5

That is the difference between Christianity and all the Oriental cults and religions. All cult religions try to wake up what you already have, and Christianity says, "What you have is not enough--you will need the enduement which is sent from above!" That is the difference. The others say, "Stir up the thing that is in you," and they expect this to be enough.

By way of illustration, if there were four or five lions coming at you, you would never think of saying to a little French poodle, "Wake up the lion in you." That would not work--it would not be enough. They would chew the little fellow up and swallow him, haircut and all, because a French poodle just isn't sufficient for a pack of lions. Some power outside of himself would have to make him bigger and stronger than the lion if he were to conquer.

That is exactly what the Holy Spirit says He does for the Christian believer, but the cult religions still say, "Concentrate and free your mind and release the creative powers that lie within you." The Counselor, 142-143.

"Lord, in our self-reliance we're all too often guilty of digging deep for that inner self-sufficiency. Our New Age culture fosters that error. Teach us how futile; show us Your power. Amen."

A Different Church

I had a new experience yesterday. A friend from church invited me to Tupper Memorial Baptist Church's annual "Journey to Jerusalem" services. This is a four-week series from 12:10 - 12:40 on the four Wednesdays preceding Easter. He had gone in years past and thought I would enjoy it.

I've never experienced anything quite like it before. First, there were four ladies who got up and sang a couple of songs accompanied by a rockin' organ. The organist sang in the second song too and he has a great voice as well. I've never done so much clapping at church before! We clapped for the praise team. We clapped to give praises to God. I think we even clapped after we read the text for the day, though I'm not sure.

This was the text yesterday (note the translation):

1Pe 1:18-20 KJV
(18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
(19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
(20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

The emphasis of the sermon was on verse 20. It was very powerful to again consider that Jesus was already getting ready for the journey to the cross even before the foundation of the world. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was not God's plan B. God knew what would happen in the garden and He already had a plan for that.

The delivery was incredible. Though it was a bit forced, I did find myself shouting out some AMENs at the appropriate times. The cadence of the delivery was incredible. This may sound crass, but the best thing I can equate it to is sex. It starts slow and it sort of builds up to a big crescendo. The organ playing with the preaching helps with that too. And after the point was made the preacher stopped, wiped his brow with the handkerchief that he previously put at the side of the pulpit, and everyone had some slower amens to kind of come down from the experience.

I don't know if I could take a steady diet of this style of preaching, but it is good to experience something different. There is certainly a lot more passion and joy than with our services. I was joking with a coworker who joined me that I wanted to call the church and tell them that I missed the three points of the sermon and to ask if the PowerPoint would be working next week.

I look forward to see what is in store for the next three weeks as the pastor "brings God's Word" to us. I'd say that he was "bringing it" in the sense that Nolan Ryan brought his fastball.

Genesis and Global Warming

I was talking to a coworker who is a believer and is also horticulturally-minded. We were talking about the cycles of rain and drought that the Raleigh area has experienced. I recalled how we had a particularly cool and wet summer in 2003. I remember because I learned about someone at my church who had put sod down in his yard and asked us to pray for rain. God seemed to answer those prayers!

We're now coming off one of our worst droughts in history. We've started to get more rain lately though. I'm not sure if we're catching up or if we're just not losing any more ground. At any rate, the rain is certainly welcome.

As I was talking to this guy I thought about the account of the feast and famine in Genesis. You may recall how Joseph came to power in Egypt because he interpreted Pharaoh's dream about the seven fat cows followed by the seven thin cows as well as the seven good ears followed by the seven lean ears.

What would Al Gore do with a modern version of this? Imagine if we had seven lean years. It would all be because of how we're polluting the world, right?

My point is that a trial always seems severe when we're in it. I jog on a hill near my house and I can tell you that it is a tough hill to go up. However, from an airplane the hill doesn't look so tough.

Let's try to keep some perspective on things.

Defending Intellectualism

Take a read through this article in the Washington Post. This speaks to a problem in our culture as a whole, but I also think that it speaks to a problem within the church as well. The third point is what really struck me.

I think that perhaps I have a bias since I am in seminary, but I think that there is a real place for education in the church. I have personally been guilty of not having enough feeling in my faith, but I think that we need to make sure that our faith is first rooted in cold, hard rationality. That last clause may seem like an oxymoron to an atheist or a paradox to anyone, but I do think that there is a place for rationality with faith.

We know from Hebrews that God is the author and perfector of our faith. From Ephesians 2 we know that faith is a gift that He gives us. However, we also see Paul’s exhortation to Timothy that the young pastor should study to show himself approved. I do not take this to mean that study is a necessary part of salvation as some do. However, I do think that it means that there is an expectation that leaders will indeed study.

What is study? I think it’s more than just going through the links in a chain-reference Bible. I think that it is learning about the culture of the times when the books were written. I think that it involves learning something about the original languages so that we can better understand the author’s meaning. How can we faithfully unpack Scripture for our congregations if we fail in the proper interpretation of a passage?

I still believe in the priesthood of the believer as spelled out in 1 Peter 2. However, I also think that Ephesians 4:11 makes it clear that there are jobs for pastors and teachers. James 3 seems to make a distinction for teachers as well. I hope that I can be a good one.

The Still, Small Voice

We're wrapping up a study of Ephesians with Setting Captives Free and the past few weeks have been on the Armor of God in Eph 6. We are finishing up with this verse:

Eph 6:18 ESV
(18) praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Mike discussed how we are also to listen to God and how prayer is not supposed to be a one-way conversation. Oh, how this convicts me! I know that I am to be more quiet before Him. I know that I am to take time to listen for His voice more. However, I don't. I still believe that God speaks primarily through Scripture. However, people I trust spiritually tell me that they have a sense of Him speaking to them. Not in the sense of God speaking to Moses, but just having a strong sense of His leading.

I wonder if I would experience more of that if I took the time to listen? That means getting up on time, which means going to bed on time.